FAIL

After a promising start, the Lib Dems seem to have managed to ruin whatever kudos they had at their conference by being bizarrely incompetent. I'd say laughably incompetent, but it's not really funny, just incomprehensible. There must be some sort of leadership 101 which says "your colleagues, who are as democratically elected as you are, will not like to be surprised at your national conference". And yet? And yet.

Well, they did manage to unleash a nice attack on George Osborne. Which is always entertaining. Still, in the current turmoil, I do feel that they should be making more gains than they are. Although I felt the same way from 2003 onwards and they completely failed to capitalise on that, so I shouldn't be surprised.

In other news, I am thoroughly depressed by the success of some of the people I went to University with, even though my link to them is tenuous at best. One has just published a second book (I am still refusing to read the first one in case it turns out to be really good, even though it's trashy young adult fiction, and makes me want to fall on my own sword. Which sounds like a sexual innuendo but really isn't) and the thought of it makes me want to take to my bed and only emerge when I've managed to write a mind-blowing, feminist, literary bestseller of a first novel. Which is never going to happen. As I can't sustain writing a blog, a novel seems a bit of a stretch. Alas, the perils of being ambitious but terribly lazy. Being bitter and consumed by envy is my only recourse. That and crochet. Done in a bitter, envious manner.

Delusions

I thought I saw Jarvis Cocker today in Carnaby Street (errr... I was working. Sort of). But it turns out he was probably too young to be Jarvis Cocker. Just some other consumptive looking hipster with dirty hair.

I am bizarrely upset by this. Although I've never actually wanted to see Jarvis Cocker.

I'm sure I'll get over it.

Holiday Spirit

Time to go away - to the land of crazy Conservatives and non-universal healthcare! Woo! But also the land of lots of food. Awesome.

Lots of feminist posts lined up for my triumphant return...

First Innings

Today was my first day back at work after the Illness and although I now feel like a zombie (am so tired my face hurts) it wasn't too bad as (a) most people were on holiday and (b) the rest of us spent the morning basically watching the cricket.

It was awesome. More like that please.

Obviously, not quite as good as being *at home* watching the Ashes, but still. Its got to the point where I've even started dreaming about cricket. Even though I know very little about it. Although more than some of my colleagues, which I am secretly proud of.

I just wish that more attention/prestige was given to women's cricket, which England happen to be very good at. You'd barely know that the women were also playing for the Ashes, unless you happened to be interested in it. Women's tennis seems to be getting more of a high profile and I think it's definitely time for women's cricket to follow suit.

I'm trying to find a women's team in/near Oxford that caters for complete beginners/the malcoordinated and it's really difficult. Apparently only men can join sports teams even if they're rubbish. Women have to be almost at a professional standard to even get a look in. While this is the case, it's going to be hard to encourage more women to take the various sports (e.g. cricket or football) ad make women's games more widely followed. It's really disheartening.

Infinite Illness

July has so far been pretty crap. I managed to catch swine flu (how? Why? No-one knows) and have been off work for two weeks. Which would have been great, except I was ill and thus didn't enjoy it. So - the verdict on swine flu: I wouldn't recommend it. It's like normal flu, except people make lots of pig jokes. Getting into the spirit of this, I was about to send a colleague the reply "you won't be laughing when I'm dead" but the SO pointed out that this wasn't as amusing as I thought it was. He totally *wouldn't* be laughing if I was dead though. Yeah...

So the first week was pretty rough, with the aching, exhaustion and the nausea from the Tamiflu (thank god they don't give that stuff out all the time). I managed to finish Infinite Jest though. I was going to take part in the Infinite Summer, but it turned out to be more like an Infinite Weekend. Admittedly, I read quickly, but it was quite convenient as the book is too heavy to commute with. A period of illness was what was required. And it was a great book and well worth reading. In fact, I wish I'd read it sooner. Apart from the Days of the Incredible Headache, I then read Pride & Prejudice a few times, watched the BBC box set (again, a few times. P&P is comfort food for the brain). Then I reread American Gods by Neil Gaiman, which is a particular favourite of mine and crocheted myself a clutch bag for a wedding I'm going to. I think it really ties the outfit together (in a Big Lebowski, rug kind of way) but the SO think it just looks like I got bored and crocheted myself a rectangle with a flower on. Too bad though. It's going to get worn.

To be honest, I am not great at being ill and doing nothing. As you can probably tell.

This week I was mostly working from home/napping. And then a spot of vomiting mid week, but otherwise recovering gently. Apart from work, I achieved nothing. Which just goes to show that my motivation depends on me being told not to do anything. The one bad thing about working from home is that it encourages colleagues to dump on you, despite your weak and fragile constitution (ahem). Which is why I will have to work through this weekend. It totally sucks and I would complain that I need my rest, but it's not like I've actually done anything productive this week *but* rest and I'm trying to avoid having millions of sick days on my record. So I should really try and show willing. Who knows what kind of disease I could pick up in November after all? Maybe the Plague.

Back to normality again soon though. Although now I'm starting to feel well enough to enjoy my time away, it's not so great. Catch 22.

That Friday feeling

To celebrate the incoming end of the working week (and what a week it has been!), I thought I'd post some of my favourite creative websites. It turns out my shin splints are stress fractures, so I won't be doing any running or jumping for a while. Just a lot of fantasising about making wonderful things, crocheting and no doubt stressing about weddings.

So, here is a website I use when I'm pretending that I am artfully stylish and don't have the attention span of a gnat. Especially the Before and After section. If I started a project like this, there'd be unfinished, fraying furniture all over the house. I'm very good at starting things, full of enthusiasm, then getting bored once it turns out it's not going to be quick and or easy. Which is why I love crochet. Because it is both. I recently finished a pink crocheted bolero - not that I know when I might want to wear a bright pink crocheted bolero, but that is not the point.

Then, when I'm looking for presents, I like to turn to Etsy. And then usually end up buying a present for myself, whilst I'm at it. It's all so lovely and unusual! Speaking of which, today I found a great jewelery designer - Laura Baillie. You should definitely check her stuff out, because it is wonderful. I'll certainly be revisiting her website (and blog!) over the next few months.

I'm sure the urge to create cake stands out of vintage plates and glasses will pass (I would never use a cake stand, nor do I have anywhere to store it, but apparently this is not enough to stop me longing to make one). It's probably seasonal. In about 6 months I will be pickling, preserving and curding like a woman possessed. Then I will make hundreds of mince pies. Last weekend I made over 60 fairy cakes. This has all been a bit of a shock to the SO, as for the rest of the year I lie around, legarthic, watching the grand prix and occasionally motivating myself for a trip to Waitrose. Maybe I just need some wine and an horse tranquiliser...

ps - I shall add the websites to my blogroll...

Run rabbit, run

I did the Race for Life this morning and managed to run the whole 5k, which I'm rather pleased with. I took up running for the first time in early January (on the C25K plan) and could barely run for a minute at a time. By early April I was up to a continuous 28 minutes. Then the injuries started. First a buggered ankle that necessitated a few weeks of rest. Then I put my back out decorating, which was another week or two out. Ever since then (probably because of the back injury) I've had terrible shin splints, which have been so bad that it hurts to walk. According to the doctor, I have apparently stripped the lining from my bones. Nice.

Given I haven't even attempted a run for a month or so, I was understandably feeling a bit down about Race for Life, which it looked like I might have to walk. I know it sounds silly, but it did feel like I would be letting the people who sponsored me down. However, the adrenaline and the soft ground came through for me. I took it slow and kept telling myself I could stop at any time, but by I reached the 3k mark, I'd decided I was going to try and run the whole thing. I ended up with a respectable 34mins - ideally I'd like to be doing 5k at sub30mins, but I'm more than happy with that time this time round. Maybe next year I'll be fighting fit and the last 500m won't feel like my heart was about to explode and my legs drop off...

Anyway, I know running posts are quite boring (which is why I've not rambled on about it before) but the alternative at the moment is politics, which is too depressing to think about and there are plenty of ignorant, opinionated people talking about it without me joining in. And, obviously, Race for Life is about Charity. I'm upholding the moral fabric of society. David Cameron would be so proud...

Born to ramble

Several thoughts for the day:

(1) Marilyn French passed away over the weekend. An article here. It's so sad. The Women's Room is one of my favourite books - it really means a lot to me.

(2) It is obviously almost summer - the little bats have started flying around the garden again. I love the way they fly - so erratic but at the same time very graceful.

(3) I was secretly hoping someone in my office would get swine flu so I could have a week off work whilst being quarantined. I know this makes me a bad person, but in my defence, I was only hoping they'd get a *mild* case. Obviously, I have now ensured that should a terrible pandemic break out, I will totally be patient zero and die an horrible, lingering death. There'll probably be boils involved. You know, just because.

(4) Annie Lennox is totally awesome.

The Revolution will be Widgetised

I don't quite know what the title means, but it was the subject line of one of the trillion of porn spam emails I received this week and I think it's probably the most awesome subject line for a porn spam email *ever*. I also got one about foot sex, which was entertaining, but not quite so surreal.

The last two months have been a little trying in various ways (despite the Easter weekend - hurrah for no work!) and I'm only just starting to feel a bit better. Or at least like I'm coping, which is something. The sunshine and the bank holiday fest that is next month are getting me through. Yesterday, between meetings, I sat outside a cafe in Paternoster Square, enjoying the sun and eating pineapple. It felt good. If only that was my entire job. Sadly, this is not the case - my *actual* job involves travelling for two hours to get to the office for 7.30am, only to discover on arrival that the meeting is cancelled and then still having to be fucking perky for the rest of the day in case someone decides to fire me. The gloom is only punctuated by small acts of pineapple-eating rebellion.

I am also getting sadistic pleasure out of the new, 50p tax rise on the miniscule 1% of the population who earn over £150k. Several members of my company are having the biggest hissy fits over this - why should they have to pay this tax? Why don't they tax the lumpen proles? What if they have to sack one of the nannies because they can't afford 3 *and* two homes and millions of foreign holidays - OH TEH HORRORS!!1!11! This griping has caused unrest among some colleagues who have suddenly figured out that a few of their peers are obviously earning one hell of a lot more than they are. Next pay day should be interesting, at least...

Perhaps Darling is in fact a G20 protester at heart - the budget has inconvenienced and terrorised the City far more effectively and potently than the G20 protests did. I just wish Labour had introduced it sooner, really.

Otherwise, all is quiet. Apart from the sodding Morris Dancers that invaded the City on St. George's day, no doubt all part of the Mayor of London's plan to make us all feel like we're English. It certainly made us all feel embarrassed and awkward, so maybe it worked. It was surreal and terrifying, like wandering through a James Herbert novel that had gone horribly wrong.

One more thing

I just watched that completely freaky Justin Timberlake video where he's dating ScarJo and then she cheats on him, then he chases her in his car and then her car blows up and he's standing over her dead body. Whilst smugly singing about "what goes around comes around". What? You can *kill* the person who cheated on you through dangerous driving/obsessive stalking and then say that they had it coming. Because they're a cheating woman. Or they *were* a cheating woman until you turned them into a lifeless corpse. This is a really unhealthy view of women.

I mean, really.

Mr. Timberlake - you are kind of fucked up.

Shocking News!

“Research shows that the bigger allowance you get from Mom and Dad,” explained Andrew M. Sum, director of Northeastern’s center, “the less likely you are to work.”

My God. My value system has been totally shaken.

Out in the cold

It's not even the end of October and it is snowing. Makes me glad that I crocheted myself an hat at the weekend, although stupidly I did it in a yarn that is a combination of silk, cashmere, lambswool and kid mohair, so getting it wet is probably not a good idea. Does make me want to stroke my head a lot though.

For some reason, I have Bruce Springsteen "Dancing in the Dark" on continuous loop in my head. Why? Not that I have anything against Bruce Springsteen, but really. It's starting to get a little tired.

In other news...

A good article on the return of Peter Mandelson - which I think took most of us by surprise (indeed, my reaction was "WTF?").

Bad things going down in Iceland. The global economic situation just gets more and more terrifying every day. In a surreal way. In the City things seem to have calmed down a bit. I think this is more because the anticipated bad things have actually started to happen (nothing worse than waiting) rather than because things are getting better.

I still have a cold, which seems to be getting worse again. To console myself, I shall go to the farmers market, get sourdough bread, make some chilli (yum - trying to recreate the great chilli I had in the US this summer) and then play WoW until the weather improves enough for me to get a life...

Pig in the City

Or, rather me in the City. I have decided that, despite early starts/late finishes, I've decided I quite like it there. Its the architecture - where else in the city are so many big, tall, glass/metal structures next to ancient churches? Today, I was especially impressed by the inside-out LLoyds building. Unbelievably awesome. The fact that everyone is rushing around is fine, as I don't like slow-walking people. Begone, meandering fools!

So - no real thoughts. What with the beginning of the New Job and the commencement of the Mega-Daily-Commute, I haven't had much room for thinking. A lame excuse.

One thing I have noticed is the way Nintendo are trying to takeover the world via the Nintendo DS. Not content with testing the intellect, they released the tell-you-what-to-cook game (what? I totally don't get what the point of that is) and now - the "health coach". A computer program to tell you what to eat, when and - as far as I can tell from the TV advert - make women feel bad for disappointing an imaginary health coach. Yeah, great.

Pregnant Pause

I've just watched Juno and although I found it irritating at first, by the end I really liked it. I just wish that they could have treated abortion as a more serious option, rather than a reflexive non-thought. Also, maybe that pregnancy actually tends to involve some sort of hormonal attachment to the would-be-child (although this may not happen to everyone, I assume it happens in the majority of cases) that could make the choice to give up the child for adoption less clear-cut. However, this would make it a completely different film. And I don't think it was handled completely insensitively - Juno's desire to make sure that the home the child went to was perfect seems to embody some of the latter sentiment. As with all these things, it's hard to distinguish between what is an objective reaction and what are my own personal feelings about the subject matter.

Would my parents have reacted so well? Somehow, I doubt it - then again, I could never have gone through the whole adoption process, so my presentation to them might have been different...

The Big Guns

Now for my favourite places to eat outside of Oxford (but close to it...). These are all a bit more expensive but very much worth it.

1) The Goose at Britwell Salome. Recently got its first michelin star (yay!) but happily, the price doesn't seem to have caught up yet. Tastefully decorated gastropub with spectacular food. Sunday is the cheapest day - a good roast, but not much you can do wrong with a roast really. Go on an evening to really get the best out of it. If you have the chance to try the lemon tart for dessert, do not pass it up - it is an almost orgasmic experience. Staff are really friendly and efficient, so no complaints at all.

2) The Old Butchers at Stow-on-the-Wold. Has been a favourite for a few years now and we first went when they were running the Kings Arms pub. Now they have a restaurant but the old regulars still pop in for a drink and a chat. Tasty, varied menu (it changes every day) with a good combination of fish and meat. Laid-back atmosphere - they really enjoy their food and they want you to too. Good on an evening but my favourite time to visit is on a Saturday lunch time for a long, unhurried lunch.

3) The Swan at Tetsworth. The chef used to run the Goose at Britwell Salome before it changed hands (and had a michelin star there himself). Now he runs the restaurant in the back of what is a rather large antiques centre. Eccentrically decorated but in a good way (for example, our table had been an old sewing machine table at one point) with very skillfully cooked food. Portions seem a little small initially, but you do come away full. The only fault would be that the menus don't seem to change that often so you can end up having the same meal twice. Afterwards, you can waddle around the antiques centre until you're ready to drive home...

Hunger Pangs

I thought it might be a good idea to put together a list of my favourite places to eat, in an around Oxford. Given it's quite a touristy city, it's quite likely that a visitor might miss out and end up eating somewhere mediocre (and a lot of Oxford eateries fall into this category...). So here it goes:

1. Best Place to eat Indian: Aziz Pandesia on the Abingdon Road (just past the Head of the River pub). It's the sister restaurant to Aziz on the Cowley Road and set on a great riverfront location. In the summer, you can even eat outside on the floating deck if you're brave enough. The food is great - I'd recommend the restaurant's own special dishes (for example the chicken makeni) which are beautifully flavoured without being overly hot. There are all the traditional dishes as well, for those who like to order the same thing at every restaurant. The only negative would be the service, which can sometimes be a little iffy. However, all that considered, still definitely the best place in Oxford.

2. Best Place to eat Chinese: Shanghai 30's on St. Aldates Street (just down from Christ Church). Fantastic Shanghainese food - especially things like the salt and pepper squid, although they do have a good range of dim sum in both cantonese and shanghainese styles. The service is great and the building is very old (check out the great plaster work on the ceilings), with language tapes playing in the toilets... You might want to book if you're planning to go on a Friday/weekend as it's very popular.

3. Best Place to eat Thai: Bangkok House on Hythe Bridge Street (towards the station - believe me, you can't miss it). Good Thai food, lavishly decorated restaurant. You'll need to book as it's always packed. Otherwise, try Chiang Mai just off High Street. Food is also great (and they do some good lunch time deals) and it's in a tastefully decorated Tudor building. A little more expensive though.

4. Best Place to eat on the go: The Mission, just off Carfax. Take-away Burritos, based on the wonderful Chipotle (yes, I'm sure there are more authentic burrito places in the US, but here in the UK we are very much deprived). It only opened this year and so far, seems to have been surprised by its own success. The food is tasty, service quick and the price is very reasonable. Go fairly early in term time, as it's usually full of students.

5. Best Place to go for a pint: The White Horse, Broad Street. A tiny pub squeezed underneath Blackwells bookshop. Good selection of ales and generally less full of pretentious students/tourists than the usual favourite, the Turf.

6. Best Place to go for a nice meal: The White Hart at Wytham. Just out of town in a tiny, picturesque village. A gastro-pub serving well thought-out food for fairly reasonable prices. More expensive than some places in Oxford, but so much nicer than its equivalents (e.g. Quod or the Lemon Tree). Nicely decorated and a good atmosphere - best to phone and book rather than turn up and be disappointed, especially if you have a large party (i.e. more than two of you!).

There are more, but that will do for now...

The Travelling Circus

I am currently celebrating the brief interlude of nothingness before I start The New Job next week by spending a week with various different family members. All very nice. Apart from the rain, but I can't really complain about that - so far it's allowed me to crochet a shawl and two hats (I'm onto winter clothing now - it might be July but you just never know when the cold might hit...). I'm quite tempted to start a third hat, but feel I probably ought to learn some different stitches first - there are only so many tea-cosyesque hats a woman and her SO need. I quite fancy doing some crazy shell-like lacy stitching but it might be too mentally taxing to work out how to do that in the round (I'm supposed to be on holiday, after all - plenty of time for thinking next week).

Other than that, I've been enjoying the culinary delight that is thai curry with deep fried haddock - perhaps the finest dish ever invented, although I grant you it does sound weird. I've also been living the cafe lifestyle with a delicious brunch last weekend. Later this week, we're off here, which is a fantastic gastro-pub and well worth the visit if you're in the area.

So, besides crocheting a multitude of hats and growing to the size of a weather balloon, not much going on. We're hoping the rain might ease long enough for us to get out and walk some of it off this afternoon...

In name only

Recently, it seems like a lot of people that I know are taking the plunge and deciding to get married (which is not surprising I guess, given that I am getting older) and the conversation inevitably turns towards the changing-of-the-name.

Having got engaged myself a few months ago, I've always made it clear that I would not be changing my name. I am myself - that's the way it's going to stay. What's odd though, is how unusual I seem to be in that respect. I'd thought that actually, I'd be in the majority - that most women nowadays wouldn't change their name. Obviously, I was wrong. The reasons for changing their name go like this:

(1) So our whole family has the same name
(2) I'm proud to be Mrs-so-and-so
(3) He was upset when I said I wouldn't change my name
(4) I haven't really thought about it, it's just what people do

I can see that (1) might have held more sway in the past - people I know who have older children with different names have told stories of trying to go to the doctors/school with different names and the fight they had to be recognised. (2) just seems bizarre - marrying someone is hardly an achievement but you know, whatever. Similarly (3) - my response would be "don't marry him then" but it's not as though I'm the most tolerant person around, nor would I marry someone likely to make that argument. (4) is lazy, but doesn't seem any worse than the others for all that. At least it's honest.

Still, there you go. My own mother suspects that I will cave in and change my name, but quite frankly, she's so glad my feminism hasn't turned me into a lesbian that she's not going to complain either way. She also pointed out that it would be quite rude to send post to friends who have changed their name in their maiden name, but given the amount of times I already get called by my partner's name (and we're not anywhere near married), I don't buy this argument. Sod it - as an act of rebellion it's quite lame, but I'm all for fighting false consciousness anyway I can.

So: congratulations guys, but be prepared...

Things I now know...

that I didn't before:

1) When you quit your job, people send you nice emails and thus boost your ego. I should resign more often. The CEO has stopped talking to me, but it is debatable as to whether that's a bad thing.

2) World of Warcraft is not just for teenage boys who have no social skills. It's fun and worryingly addictive. Good for rainy weekends when you can't be bothered to do constructive things like paint the bathroom or hoover, bad if you get tempted to log in when working at home. Don't do it.

3) Kidney infections really hurt.

4) I'm easily impressed by bald, scottish, buddhist women who talk about the importance of being myself. I can't tell if this means I'm naive, completely self-absorbed, or both.

5) Changing a tire is not as difficult as it looks, but there is the ever present fear of being smooshed by a lorry going along the A34.

6) Driving on my own is a lot less stressful than driving with the SO in the car. Especially when attempting to reverse out of the tire-garage and some wanker has parked their car across the middle of the forecourt.

7) Working for the Electoral Commission would be rewarding and terrifying. I was speaking to a guy who was in Kenya for the election in December and had a policeman stoned to death beside him. He's holding out for Florida in the US Nov elections, but suspects he'll get somewhere like Nebraska.